The present invention relates generally to railing and fencing and, more specifically, to a mounting bracket for a railing or fence.
Outdoor decks are extremely popular in residential home construction. Homes and apartments, as well as a variety of other buildings, often incorporate exterior decks into their design. These decks provide convenient spaces for a variety of outdoor activities, including cookouts, dining and sunbathing, as well as other leisure activities. Moreover, decks typically are provided with a railing or perimeter fence to keep people from falling over the edge of the deck. Additionally, perimeter and accent fencing is commonly added onto landscapes, creating a boundary for foliage displays and garden areas.
Wood products traditionally have been the primary source of materials for use in decking and fence construction. However, wood products are becoming increasingly scarce due to the harvesting of trees at ever faster rates and the rather limited rate at which timber resources can be replenished. Also, environmental concerns and regulations directed to conservation or preservation of forests tend to restrict the availability of wood products. With the diminishing availability of timber resources, wood products are becoming increasingly expensive. There is, therefore, a substantial need for long-lasting substitute construction materials that can lessen the need to harvest timber resources.
One potential approach to addressing the above need is to provide substitute fence and decking products made of plastic, rather than wood. Plastic fence products provide a long-lasting alternative to wood. In addition, plastic fence products alleviate the need for costly painting and repainting. A variety of plastic building products are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,603 describes a three-layer synthetic construction material made from recycled waste thermoplastic synthetic resin material and cellulose fiber aggregate. This material includes face surfaces consisting essentially of re-hardened fused and rolled thermoplastic synthetic resin material bits, and an intervening core material consisting essentially of a compressed non-homogenous mixture of cellulose aggregate material bits and re-hardened fused thermoplastic synthetic resin material bits. Such plastic material can be used to create fencing elements.
Plastic fences tend to be relatively inexpensive and durable, but often present difficulties in attaching a rail thereof to an upright post thereof. Conventional wood or metal fence rails can be attached to the fence posts by welding, nails, screws, bolts, and so forth, but these techniques are not suitable for plastic fence rails and posts. A number of different brackets have been designed for attaching plastic fence rails to the upright posts. However, such known brackets are designed for use with the fence rails and posts in specific positions only and are thus limited in their applications. Also, known brackets are not entirely suitable for use with xe2x80x9cshadow boxxe2x80x9d fencing (a type of privacy fence having relatively wide picket boards and in which adjacent picket boards are staggered front and back) because the width of the bracket creates a gap between the fence post and the end picket board adjacent the post.
Accordingly, a need yet remains in the art for a mounting bracket that can be used in plastic or wood fencing or railing to mount rails to upright posts, that is adaptable in that it can be used to configure the rails in a variety of different positions, and that is inexpensive, lightweight, and weather-resistant. It is to the provision of such a bracket that the present invention is primarily directed.
The present invention both overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art and meets the recognized need for such a device by providing a unique bracket for use in a fence system having upright posts, rails extending laterally between the posts, and upright picket boards extending between the rails. The bracket can be attached to one of the posts and can secure one of the rails to the post and/or one of the pickets in a position closely adjacent to the post. It will be understood that the bracket can be suitably utilized with other fence systems such as railings or the like.
Generally described, the bracket comprises a body made of plastic or another material. The body has a base and a peripheral wall extending from the base, with the peripheral wall having a distal portion spaced apart from the base. For use with rectangular rails and pickets, the peripheral wall includes two opposing side walls and two opposing end walls. The peripheral wall defines an opening that is wider at the distal portion than at the base. The base has attachment ears or is otherwise adapted for mounting the bracket body to one of the posts.
In one aspect of the invention, the opening includes a rail opening portion that can receive an end of one of the rails. The opposing side walls are slanted towards each other so that the rail opening portion is generally trapezoidal when viewed from the side. Additionally or alternatively, the distal portion includes an inward flange that defines the rail opening portion. In this way, the rail end can be received in the rail opening portion when the rail is positioned generally perpendicularly to the post (when the fence is installed on generally horizontal ground) or at another angle (when the fence is installed on ground that is not level).
In another aspect of the invention, the opening includes at least one and preferably two picket opening portions that extend through the opposing side walls. The picket opening portions are connected to the rail opening portion so that the opening is generally T-shaped. In this way, an edge of one of the pickets can be received in the picket opening portions and allowed to extend through the side wall so that little or no visible gap is formed between the picket and the post.
These objects, advantages, and features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading the following specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures.